Garden Bench
polycounter lvl 4
I had been working on a rust gun, but I thought I would try something easier and try to finish it completely, as well as texturing before going onto more complex pieces.
So far I have this:
I plan to sculpt the metal so it looks more dented, also I need to add in some bolts on the planks of wood.
It is based on these references, but not an exact copy:
So far I have this:
I plan to sculpt the metal so it looks more dented, also I need to add in some bolts on the planks of wood.
It is based on these references, but not an exact copy:
Replies
I am going to redo the bolts, I don't like how they look at the moment.
Yeah, this is a practice for me so I can get used to the process of baking high to low poly and creating textures.
I also wanted to get some practice trying to make some different shapes that I haven't done before. I found a great youtube channel with tons of tutorials, it has inspired me to carry on and finish some stuff.
Arrimus3d https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSLLdTBwLMfTKWS56tOiQpw
I don't know about making the curly bits, it would be very polygon intensive.
I changed up the bases a bit:
It's only intensive if the low-poly is masive.
Ill post some updates in the morning once I have some progress
It was hard to find a proper front on reference of something like this, so I found this image:
and rotated it a bit to get this:
I can then just make one side and mirror it. What would be the best way to go about doing this? Just using the create polygon tool to draw out the shape and then fix it up or should I try and use splines?
I managed to keep the majority of it in quads, some tricky bits ended up being tris though.
This is what it looks like as a a double piece, I am having some trouble welding the verts in the middle though, for some reason its not working. Even if I try target weld.
Thanks for suggesting this and pushing me towards doing, it will make for a much better piece to show my skills
I am not sure about the cylindrical part underneath the wooden planks, it seems to clash with the rest of the design, what do you guys think?
Ill low poly and UV this later, then do some test bakes
Also, is using the optimise modifier bad? I thought it was alright but you guys have more experience than me
At the moment I have my high poly set up like this:
In the end I am going to have these planks along the metal, but I will probably end up using duplicates of the planks. How would I go about creating an ambient occlusion map, would it mess up if I baked an AO and then moved the position of the planks in the final model? Would it also mess up if I duplicate the planks and use them multiple times?
Additionally, how do I go about making it so that I have both my high and low poly in the same file? I want to be able to go back and forwards and compare how parts are lining up, and also so I can get them into the exact same position.
Lastly, I have been watching this video:
[ame]
Is it true you don't need to create a cage in xnormal? I have seen other tutorials where they create a cage in max.
\\ Weighing your time put in vs. effect.
If you want an absolutely accurate and unique AO bake for each of the mesh elements in your low poly, you're going to have to provide a unique UV space for even the items that COULD be clones since each low poly plank is technically in a new position. Same situation happens in places like asymmetrical pants.
Both legs may be of the same material, but one might be bound by a rope or something along the thigh, so I'd have to provide a unique UV space for each pant leg.
Looking at your model, I don't think you'd have to be SUPER worried about providing each plank a unique space. I don't think the AO "issues" would be obvious enough to the naked eye. Unless this is a hero piece, save the time, just clone. Just imagine not only this to make, but trash cans, cars, lamp posts, newspaper stands, etc. in the course of several months for a game like Watch Dogs. The items players will focus on most your prioritize the love.
Now this does leave a question about how to bake your AO properly.
\\ To get the plank AO onto the metal frame:
1) Move you planks back to where it SHOULD be in the end (the high poly mesh and low poly)
2) Export out the highpoly of the whole highpoly mesh, including planks.
3) Export out only the low poly metal frame, sans planks.
4) In xNormal, don't worry about baking out normals, just bake out your AO.
>> You get an more precise AO on the metal frame than doing an explode bake.
You can do the same for the planks, same method, just only bake out onto the low poly planks.
\\ Explode baking normals:
If you're worried about normals, those can be baked in an explosion. Move all high poly, and their respective low poly meshes, outwards like an explosion. During a normal bake, since all meshes are not intersecting with each other, an the low poy meshes are with theire respective Hi-Poly meshes, you should get clean, manageable normal bakes.
This does not get your the AO that is accurate or the one you want. This is only really useful for normals or related maps.
The above methods do take time, much more than something that is simple exporting out your HP and LP to xNormal and baking, but it gets you clean bakes. You can of course make fixes and edits in Photoshop, this is fine and encouraged as necessary.
\\ Keeping your LP and HP in the same position in World Space
In regards to making sure LP and HP are in the same position in a file, I'm assuming there's a way for your to group or parent an HP to an LP, so when you move the group or move the parent mesh, the child meshes transform as well. Ease of selection on export should be managed by some sort of Scene Objects List (in Maya, that's the Outliner to me), or Display Layers of some sort.
\\ You don't need cages in xNormal
It is true you don't need cages in xNormal.
If I place all the planks in place before UV mapping, how would I be able to do this? Wouldn't I then have to UV each separate plank?
basically. In my final model I want more than 2 planks on the bench, but I only want to texture 2 individual planks.
What would I do if I had say, 4 planks on the model? If I have to put them in place before baking, wouldn't that mean I would have to UV map 4 planks instead of just 2?
You would need to only export out only on of each plank with the unique UVs for baking, not all of the low poly planks.
Give it a try, should be quick.